Chapter 58: The Woman with a Scorpion

She could not even help but start to tremble all over.

Shen Lan shook her off with some disgust; having just finished listening to that inversion of black and white, he had already exhausted his patience.

Especially when he caught Si Rong's expression of mocking amusement, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

He assumed Li Xuan was trembling like this because she was about to start performing a new act, and he could not help but warn her in a low voice, "Stop while you're ahead."

If Si Rong were bullied too harshly, he feared he would be the one to suffer misfortune.

"Shen Lan, no, look, look, who is that?"

Shen Lan looked in the direction of Li Xuan's trembling fingertip and saw a black, thin man with a terrifying face.

The obvious burn scars on that man's face helped him recall some memories.

It was Wen Xiang; how could he have come?

Could it be that he heard today was his engagement banquet and came to offer a gift?

But, with his appearance, what if he scared the distinguished guests he had invited?

"Deputy County Magistrate Shen, Li Xuan, do you still remember me?"

Wen Xiang's voice was hoarse and grating as he slowly walked in front of Shen Lan and Li Xuan.

Now that his mother was already receiving treatment from a doctor hired by the Si Family, he no longer had any worries.

He could finally confront this devilish couple head-on.

The guests were kept busy; today's engagement banquet was too spectacular, and for a moment, they could not tell who the real protagonist was.

"Wen Xiang," Li Xuan used all her strength to control her expression, "of course we remember you. You are our old classmate; welcome to witness our happiness!"

She hurriedly signaled to Shen Lan's secretary, Xiao Huang, to come over quickly and get this guy out of here.

Otherwise, today's scene would surely spiral out of control!

She had wanted to use today's occasion to make Si Rong lose face, but she did not want her own engagement banquet to be ruined.

Yet, Xiao Huang seemed to have completely failed to grasp the content of her gaze.

Li Xuan clearly remembered that back when Si Rong was still Mrs. Shen, Xiao Huang had been obedient to Si Rong in every way.

How was it that now that it was her turn to be the Deputy County Magistrate's wife, Xiao Huang did not take her seriously?

So useless; she would have Shen Lan fire her later!

"We are old classmates, which is why I know many things from back then."

Wen Xiang faced the guests, "Everyone must be very curious about the truth regarding the Deputy County Magistrate's marriage and children in yesterday's newspaper. As it happens, I am an insider, so I will share it with everyone today."

"Wen Xiang!" Li Xuan shouted to stop him, her cold sweat almost breaking out from fear, her eyes carrying a warning.

Had he forgotten so quickly the fire that caused the deaths of his father and little sister?

To think he dared to spout nonsense here.

"Li Xuan, are you feeling guilty?" Si Rong spoke up at the right moment, "Wen Xiang is our old classmate; there is nothing wrong with him satisfying everyone's curiosity for us. You and I are both involved parties, and arguing back and forth won't reveal the truth, so why not let a bystander speak?"

"That's right, hurry up and tell us! Who was Deputy County Magistrate Shen originally seeing in the beginning? We all want to know!"

"Exactly, everyone here today is family and friends, there are no outsiders, the Deputy County Magistrate's wife wouldn't be so distant, would she?"

Guests eager to hear the gossip egged him on.

Li Xuan's face turned pale.

She knew she probably could not stop it now.

Sure enough, Wen Xiang sneered twice and said, "No one can stop me today. The public has the right to know the truth."

"Nineteen years ago, Deputy County Magistrate Shen was originally seeing this Li Xuan beside him, but later, I personally heard Deputy County Magistrate Shen plotting with Li Xuan to seize the Si Family's wealth and status. Thus, Deputy County Magistrate Shen used his own body as a pawn and married the daughter of the Si Family."

His expression carried deep mockery, "On the surface, he is the Si Family's son-in-law, but behind the scenes, this Miss Li Xuan bore him children, and those children were brought home by Deputy County Magistrate Shen under the guise of adoption. This is the whole truth you all want to know, and it is also the reason why the Si Family's daughter wanted a divorce after discovering all of this."

Suddenly, there was an uproar.

"My god! This is too shameless. How do they have the nerve to be some Deputy County Magistrate? Plotting against the Si Family's property is one thing, but to have the nerve to make the Si Family's daughter raise children for the two of them is shameless!"

"The most shameless one has to be Teacher Li. No wonder Huaiyi wanted to fire her; who would dare to associate with such a person? Seeing that someone else has good things, she covets them. If they didn't fire her, maybe she would have turned the school into her own eventually."

"The most shameless part is that after scheming against someone, they still have the nerve to publish in the newspaper and shift the blame. Is this old woman a disciple of Zhu Bajie?"

"I think so, she even looks like Zhu Bajie."

Li Xuan did not want to listen to these discussions; she felt as if she had become a joke.

Yet clearly, today should have been her happiest day.

After the engagement, she had planned to move in with Shen Lan.

After the New Year, they would hold an even grander wedding, and from then on, she would be the legitimate County Magistrate's wife.

Shen Mu stood to the side, not knowing how to react, and Shen Yun felt even more embarrassed, feeling lucky in her heart that Jun Wei had not come today.

Wen Xiang watched her quietly, wanting to see a trace of the lively and kind appearance she had back then, but unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed.

"Stop spouting blood here! Is there someone who told you to come here and spread rumors?"

Li Xuan considered it and felt she could not just sit and wait for death, so she stared fixedly at Si Rong and questioned her.

"Miss Si Rong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have competed with you, but today is my big engagement day after all. Please, show mercy and let us ordinary commoners go?"

Li Xuan lowered her posture extremely low, but her words were filled with soft thorns, stabbing at Si Rong.

She deliberately brought up the class hierarchy, wanting more people to stand on her side.

Indeed, quite a few people's attitudes began to shift.

"I have never seen an 'ordinary commoner' like you in my life!"

Wen Xiang pointed to the scar on his face, "As old classmates, we are chatting calmly, why do you keep dragging Miss Si Rong into this? Hmm?"

"Back then you told me you did all this because you had no choice, because you were jealous of Si Rong, jealous of your family's unconditional favoritism toward her, jealous of everything about her, but I thought you had your own merits, yet now I can't see them at all."

"Let's talk about our own business. I promised you I wouldn't let this secret out, so why did you set a fire to burn my father and little sister to death?"

If Li Xuan could have denied the previous accusations, the evidence on Wen Xiang's face could be considered ironclad.

Li Xuan's body involuntarily swayed backward.

Fortunately, Shen Lan caught her in time.

"Good heavens! This is too vicious! A woman like this should be taken away by the police and executed by firing squad!"

"Call the police! Setting fire to people is a serious crime."

"Does Deputy County Magistrate Shen have shit for brains? To actually dare to marry such a snake-hearted, scorpion-minded woman!"

"Fuck! We just said a lot of bad things about her; she wouldn't burn us all to death, would she?!"

Seeing that the situation in the hall was about to spiral out of control, Shen Lan hurriedly stepped forward to take charge, "Wen Xiang, don't get agitated yet; the matter of the arson must be a misunderstanding."

Ming Zi said coldly, "If it's a misunderstanding, then let her explain it clearly. Li Xuan, today you will explain things one by one, starting with the matter of slandering Si Rong in the newspaper. If you can't explain it clearly, I'm afraid you and the Deputy County Magistrate will be having your engagement at the Public Security Bureau today!"